Celotex Corporation, 1 River Road, Edgewater, New Jersey.
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EPA
Region		 Location of facility Type of facility Amount
of ore
received
(in tons)		 Did
EPA
visit
the
site?		 Were
samples
taken?		 Results of
evaluation
2 1 River Road, Edgewater, New Jersey Gypsum board manufacturer 306 Yes-April 4, 2000 Yes According to an EPA database compiled from W.R. Grace shipping invoices, 306 tons of vermiculite ore from the Libby mine were shipped to this site from 1967 through 1969. Available records indicated that Celotex did not exfoliate vermiculite as a part of its operations. When EPA inspected the former Celotex Corporation site in April 2000, an inactive gypsum landfill located on the site was being closed under the authority of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), and the area surrounding the site was undergoing a major revitalization, with the construction of apartment and condominium complexes, shopping malls, and movie theaters. Barrett Manufacturing Company, owned by Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation, had made gypsum board at this site from approximately 1957 to 1967. Information concerning Allied Chemicals’ wallboard manufacturing operations at this site was unavailable. Celotex Corporation acquired this property in August 1967 and manufactured gypsum board at the site until the late 1970s. While operating at the site, Celotex dumped "off-spec" gypsum wallboard products into the on-site landfill. In the late 1970s, Celotex transferred its gypsum wallboard manufacturing operation to another location and began leasing the site on River Road to other industries. As part of the landfill closure, NJDEP was requiring, among other things, that the responsible parties place a 2-foot clay cap over the former landfill. On April 4, 2000, EPA collected 12 soil samples from the site and analyzed them for asbestos using polarized light microscopy (PLM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). PLM analysis indicated that 11 of the 12 samples contained no detectable levels of asbestos and 1 sample contained 25-percent chrysotile asbestos (a type of asbestos not found in Libby ore). The source of the asbestos in the one sample appeared to be a severely deteriorated and crumbled piece of siding board (not from the processing of vermiculite ore). The TEM analysis indicated that asbestos structures were present in 6 of the 12 samples. With the submittal of EPA’s sampling report to the NJDEP--the lead agency responsible for this site--EPA’s investigation of this site ended. ATSDR's health consultation report for this site can be found at Agency for Toxic Substancesand Disease Registry (ATSDR)

GAO-09-6R